French Billionaire Pinault
Will Not Make Bid for Suez

By

David Gauthier-Villars

Updated Jan. 1, 2007 2:15 p.m. ET

PARIS -- French billionaire Fran&ccedil;ois Pinault is not preparing a bid for water and energy conglomerate Suez SA and will say so in a statement to the French stock market regulator this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The businessman is, however, closely watching developments on the planned merger between Suez and state-run utility company Gaz de France and does not rule out making a move for some of...